


louder

by ediblemomo (junnir)



Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-29
Updated: 2017-10-29
Packaged: 2019-01-26 01:39:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12545932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/junnir/pseuds/ediblemomo
Summary: jeongyeon marvelled at the way nayeon made her feel like everything was alright with the world.and even if it wasn’t, that’s fine too. because they could take on the world someday, so long as they were in this together.(based on jeongyeon's part-time job at the bakery that she had while she was a trainee.)





	louder

**Author's Note:**

> refer to this [tweet](https://twitter.com/myouiwaddles/status/922344040800034818) for context!

there were a lot of perks of working at this tiny, quaint bakery; the sights and smells were only cherries on top. working here meant:

 

getting a good workout with the moderate physical labour (as if she wasn't already sweating it out with every training and evaluation session she had to attend),  
  
earning just enough to cover the needs and wants of an adolescent teenager like her (she didn't crave for much but it helped that she could afford that extra snack for when practice went on past her regular mealtimes),  
  
and feeling less guilty about taking a different route that one weekday afternoon—one that brought her to her workplace instead of the place where she deposited all her hopes and dreams (a paradise that was starting to look more like hell than it did heaven).

 

not to mention that working here made her feel a little better about herself, when she asked for an additional shift and the lady boss gave her a muted look of wonder and compassion. she topped it all off with a sweet little “it’s okay, just give my older sister a bit more time off when she asks for it” and she knew that she just about melted the woman’s insides to mush.

 

she didn’t have the heart to tell her the truth, which sounded a lot closer to “I’m just using this as an escape from my training” than “I’m truly as nice as you think I am.”

 

in her peripheral vision, she caught her lady boss sneaking glances at her from time to time, as she bent up and down, moved high and low, just to stack the right pastries with their kind and the right breads with their like. she didn’t feel any surging sense of pride that usually came with strangers’ approval, maybe because she was the only one who knew that she was currently using her part-time job to hide away from the pressures that forced her to be more like someone she wasn’t.

 

to be more like an idol, to be more like the singer and dancer she dreamt of becoming, to be more like what her dreams entailed—

 

except she wasn’t dreaming, this was reality, and reality sucked a lot more than she thought it would.

 

she tamped down those burgeoning thoughts with the last of the spicy sausage buns she placed on the shelf. shutting the display case, she was a few steps in on her journey to grab another tray of breads, to repeat the mind-numbing routine that relieved a great deal of her stress, when the little wood-framed doors swung open and the bells jingled a little melody that prompted her to spin around and offer an exemplary employee’s greeting.

 

only it wasn’t a customer that greeted her, but someone that felt so familiar and yet so,  _so_  foreign at the same time.

 

the lady boss gave a greeting anyway and jeongyeon only stared in silence as her grip on the new tray loosened and she shifted her weight around uneasily (guiltily) on her two feet. the familiar-yet-foreign figure approached, almost a little menacing, and jeongyeon was almost afraid to look up, but that fear soon morphed into rebellion after she decided she wasn’t going to take anyone’s crap for missing training without a valid reason. (well in her defense, getting sick and tired of not improving was a valid reason in and of itself. but still—)

 

“we need to talk,” the voice declared, to jeongyeon’s chagrin.

 

=

 

nayeon was made for this.

 

with the little round face, pristine features—crystal-ball eyes and all, even down to the perfect little pair of bunny teeth—she was made for the glamorous life of a celebrity. and sure, training took a bit of time, but there was nothing pretty little im nayeon couldn’t overcome (plus she was indeed talented  _as heck_  to boot; that voice could sing angels into reality).

 

at least that was it in jeongyeon’s eyes.

 

so as jeongyeon took off the apron that was wrapped around her school uniform (a layer she had peeled off oh-so gently because it was pretty much the only physical armour she had against reality) and plopped her skinny self on the curb by the sidewalk, she decided that nayeon –

 

who’s always  _effortlessly_  impressive (but only seemingly so; jeongyeon knew too well of all the many hours that ticked past, all the band-aids that slipped off from sweaty skins, all the family meals they’ve missed and all the tears they’ve cried out while nestled in each other’s aching arms),

 

always at least labelled a B and  _never ever_  a D or F (unlike jeongyeon, who fluctuated a lot more than she’d like to admit, except the fluctuations were starting to look a lot more like a rut she could never get out of),

 

always thriving in her element while doing the thing she loved best (that smile on nayeon’s face whenever she grabbed the mic and took centrestage? jeongyeon would kill for it to be permanent)

 

and always beautiful (jeongyeon paused for a solid second there, then decided words could never suffice)

 

– couldn’t say or do anything that could make her feel better about herself. no, the last of all mankind who could possibly empathise with jeongyeon and her lack of self-esteem and fast-dying motivation was miss im nayeon herself, celebrity-to-be, perfection personified and owner of the world’s cutest bunny teeth. (at least in jeongyeon’s eyes.)

 

“my break’s only fifteen minutes long,” jeongyeon drawled in an overly uninterested tone, hoping it could discourage nayeon from doing whatever it was the determination in her round eyes was asking her to do.

 

nayeon plopped herself down next to her, tucking in her school skirt and crossing her legs for modesty’s sake. “I’ve got the whole day.” she didn’t even miss a beat before she went on. “so, if we don’t settle what we’ve got to settle in the next fifteen minutes, I’ll just wait for you to get off work.”

 

jeongyeon stifled an eye-roll and wondered momentarily how nayeon was almost always an endless source of energy and persistence, from practicing her ass off in that godforsaken training room (and still emerging hours later, hair matted with sweat and stuck to her face, as the prettiest girl jeongyeon had ever seen) to coming all the way to the secluded bakery jeongyeon worked at (the address of which she was sure she only mentioned  _once_ , so kudos to nayeon for remembering it too).

 

(how could she be so ethereal, yet so real?)

 

it took her a second too long to register that nayeon was real, very much so, and sitting right next to her, huddled up on the sidewalk despite the vastness of available space. that nayeon was  _here_ , which meant that she, just like jeongyeon, wasn’t at training. alarmed, she whipped around to give nayeon an incredulous stare.

 

“don’t you have training today?”

 

“shouldn’t I be the one asking you that?” nayeon turned to face jeongyeon, her face telling of the dismay and disapproval she was about to express.

 

“I—that’s not the point. why aren’t you there now?”

 

she shrugged, as if that was all she needed to do to answer jeongyeon’s query. “I  _was_  at training. for a good thirty minutes.”

 

“then…?”

 

“then I told them I had a  _very_  bad gastric attack,” she shrugged again, in her usual nayeon way, and even folded her arms for good measure. “look what you made me do, yoo jeongyeon.”

 

jeongyeon wasn’t faking it; the confusion on her face at being made the target of nayeon’s accusation was real. “how is any of this my fault?”

 

“I had to lie to get out of training so that I could come find you,  _duh_.”

 

“but I never asked for—”

 

“don’t be silly,” nayeon cut her off, catching jeongyeon off-guard in a way only she could.

 

the words died in her throat and the older girl sighed a little, moving to put her head on jeongyeon’s shoulder, and in the softest and quietest voice jeongyeon had ever heard from nayeon’s lips, she went on: “talk to me, jeong. don’t just disappear on me.”

 

(there was honestly no resisting this girl. at least not in jeongyeon’s eyes.)

 

“I’m just tired. and I feel like giving up.”

 

nayeon laced her fingers through jeongyeon’s and pulled her hand closer to her lips, so close jeongyeon could feel nayeon’s warm breath on her cold fingers. she studied the fingers for a while and traced the callused skin, every single line and wrinkle, with her own slightly smoother fingers.

 

“you’ve come so far, jeong. and I know sometimes the only words that matter come from the trainers, but I want you to know that I’m proud of you.”

 

then she pulled her hand impossibly close and put it right by her lips, as if her words had a miracle touch that could cure her of all pain and troubles.

 

“and I need you. it feels scarier and lonelier when you’re not there with me.”

 

jeongyeon felt nayeon shift, her head leaving the vicinity of her shoulder in the process. she watched as nayeon got up from her spot, her hand never leaving hers, and as she moved to squat right in front of jeongyeon. this let her make eye contact with the latter, which was clearly what she was looking for.

 

“you know I mean it, yoo jeongyeon.”

 

and as she dived forward to match her own lips with jeongyeon’s, nayeon made an unspoken promise that the younger girl heard louder than anything else she’s ever heard —

 

louder than the harsh criticisms from the trainers she saw daily,

 

louder than the doubts and insecurities she had about herself,

 

louder than the ‘I love yous’ anybody had ever said to her,

 

louder than any other promise anyone could ever make (because this one meant  _this much_ )

 

— _“come back to me. we could take on the world someday, so let’s not give up. you and me, we’re in this together.”_

 

=

 

(years later, they take on the world together, hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder, side by side.

 

bright lights shining down on them, they look at each other and feel a wave of relief wash over them.

 

jeongyeon didn’t give up and nayeon kept her promise.

 

they’re in this together, and will be till the end of time.)

 

**Author's Note:**

> i've never full-on written 2yeon before,,,
> 
> enjoy! if you've liked what you read, leave a kudos and/or a comment! :)
> 
> i'm also @ediblemomo on twitter haha


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